I have to say that I was genuinely surprised that Lincoln didn’t walk away with more. Same for Silver Linings Playbook. I’m pretty cynical about the academy. Couple that with the fact that, as of this post, I’ve only seen Django Unchained, and there you have my excuse.

And, yes, I didn’t watch the telecast. I watched a special on BBC America profiling Patrick Troughton, the second Doctor Who as well as the follow-up telecast of Tomb of the Cybermen.

I haven’t seen any of these films either, but here’s my random guesses at who’s going to win:

Best Picture: Past experience tells me Lincoln, but Argo has been cleaning up at the other award ceremonies, so I’m going to go with it. If it loses, I’d expect controversy.

Best Director: This typically goes to the director of the film that wins Best Picture. Argo‘s director isn’t up for it, so this could be Steven Spielberg’s to lose. However, my gut tells me it’ll be Ang Lee for Life of Pi, which might erase all the damage he did to his reputation with that Incredible Hulk fiasco.

Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis is a lock for this one.

Best Actress: I don’t know about this one. I’d love to see the young girl Quvenzhané Wallis from Beasts of the Southern Wild win this, but it probably won’t happen. I’m gonna go with Naomi Watts cause she’s the most recognized name.

Best Makeup and Hair Styling: Seriously, they give an award for this?! I’m going with Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell of Les Miserables just cause. Good luck, ladies!!

It’s time for another anime roundup! I’ve been getting more new DVDs and BDs than I should, so here’s some highlights.

Ground Control to Psychoelectric Girl (Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko)
This is a really interesting show. I glad of that, because I bought it based on that cool title alone. Ignore the show description from the online retailers. It’s a character piece more than anything. But the characters and situations are enjoyable. It’s a light piece, so there’s really nothing as emotionally involving as NGE. It’s still good and worth checking out.
It has one of the most trippy openings I’ve seen in a while.

Tiger & Bunny
It’s like a buddy-cop story, but with superheroes.
In this futuristic setting, There are normal people and there are NEXT who have extranormal powers and abilities. Some of these NEXT have become heroes. Businesses have capitalized on them by becoming their sponsors. They even have a TV show called “Hero TV Live” and a game-show style point system and award show. Yeah, it’s a bit like the Mystery Men movie in some regard.
The show follows two heroes: Wild Tiger and a second who has decided to act under his own name: Barnaby Brooks Jr. They both have the same powers, but Tiger is the veteran, while Barnaby is the young and popular new guy. As these things go, they have been paired together with Tiger as the “sidekick”. So they have to learn to get along, uphold justice, and make their sponsors look good.
It’s a very visually striking show. All cultures and races are blended almost seemlessly in the setting. The character design and setting design have a lot of Western influence.
Check out the opening:

Qwaser of Stigmata (Seikon no Qwaser)
How to describe this show… Maybe this will help:

Well, it’s a show about alchemists looking for some sort of holy relic. Oh, and they “power up” by suckling breasts. It’s practically a hentai show with all of the nudity and sexuality, but without the gratuitous depictions of penetration.
I have to make myself watch it. Really.

So, as you should know by now, we at the Midlife Crisis Taskforce really like movies. So here’s my Oscar predictions. You should know I’ve seen pitifully few of these movies.

Best Picture:
I think it will go to Lincoln. There’s so much hype behind it and it’s a Spielberg film. I think that will sway the academy. In my fantasies, it’s Django Unchained.

Best Actor:
Hmmm… It could also go to Daniel Day Lewis. But I’m going to say Bradley Cooper. Dramatic portrayals of broken people usually rally the academy. I’ve got no personal favorite here.

Best Actress:
This is a tricky one, but I think it will go to Jennifer Lawrence for the same reason I think Bradley Cooper will get Best Actor. Again, no favorite here

Best Supporting Actor:
My want is for Cristoph Waltz to get it again. I think it’ll go to Phillip Seymour Hoffman because– it’s Phillip Seymour Hoffman!

Best Supporting Actress:
Wow, I think this is going to be a toss-up between Sally Field and Anne Hathaway. But, I’m going to go with Sally Field because it’s Lincoln and everyone already knows what she went through to get the part. If I have any favorite here, it’s Anne Hathaway because I like to look at her. 8)

Best Director:
They’ll give it to Spielberg. No favorite here.

Best Original Song:
I think it’ll be Skyfall. Get ready to be beaten to death by Adele again. I mean, I like her voice– she definitely has the talent. I’m just tired of hearing her same songs every-freaking-where I go. Her aural saturation levels are eclipsing Michael Buble.

So that’s it. These are my predictions. We’ll see how well or poorly I did next week. I mean, I don’t intend to watch the Oscar telecast. It really is one of the most boring 4 hours of Hollywood masturbation they’ll produce. I’m glad this only happens once a year.

That’s right kids, it is Oscar time. That special time of year when Hollywood gives itself a giant pat on the back and fills itself with self-congratulatory punch. If they were not full of self-importance before, these award shows lets them show their stuff for real. From brain draining red carpet interviews to the thank you speeches, there is enough dreck there to fill the Grand Canyon. On this note, let me start with my Oscar picks 🙂

Best Picture- I will be honest, I haven’t seen any of these movies this year. The older I get the less I like going to the movies. These films I am sure have their merit, but let’s be honest, if I never saw any of them, would I really be missing anything? No, I don’t think so. Since Rando and Pancho are picking their winners, I will say that Les Miseables will probably win. Although Life of Pi apparently features a tiger on a boat…that is pretty cool I suppose 🙂

Best Actor- Well this one is a toss-up I think. In the end I think the award goes to Daniel Day-Lewis for his portrayal of the Five dollar bill.

Best Actress- Well the only actress I have actually heard of in this group is Naomi Watts, so let’s just go with her for the sake of argument.

Best Director- I think Spielberg can add this years Oscars to his list of accomplishments. Just a feeling. Lincoln got a lot of hype, even though in this one he didn’t kill any vampires. I guess being historically accurate means something these days?

Best Original Song- Well since they really cut out a lot of awards this year, I choose this one as my totally random pick. I wish they had best Grip or even Best assistant to such and such star, but they don’t. I will go with Adele for her theme from “Skyfall”. Haven’t heard that song…but people are ape shit about Adele, so I am going with that.

Well there they are folks, my Oscar picks. Lets take them for what they are, a not so serious look at a subject that is not serious at all.

As you my or may not know, I’ve been unemployed for the better part of two months now. With little spendable cash & nothing to do, I’ve taken to going to various lengths to keep myself entertained; volunteered at a cat shelter, starting learning about the Arduino, making contacts on my ham radio, watching bad movies, etc. Today, I decided to tackle a new challenge.

With the headache I woke up with this morning feeling better, I decided to try my hand at baking bread! Yes, I’m that bored. Lessons learned so far:

1. There’s a reason folks use a bread machine or an electric mixer when doing this.

2. It’s impossible to work with flour and not get it on every conceivable surface in your kitchen.

3. 10 minutes is a long goddamn time to be kneading dough! Especially if one has a history of shoulder problems.

4. Note to wife: We need a dough hook for the mixer.

My dough is currently “on the rise,” so to speak. More later!

EDIT #1:

5. This cat:

a known scavenger, apparently likes bread dough as I found her on the kitchen counter licking up the flour I’d missed while cleaning up. Cats have a reputation for being finicky, but I’ll be damned if I’ve ever had one that was!